The short lets market aimed at international travellers may be in for a difficult time - even the co-founder and chief executive of Airbnb says so.
Brian Chesky has told Yahoo Finance that “the world of travel as we knew it in January is never coming back... I feel very confident about that.”
Chesky claimed that within six weeks of the Coronavirus going global his business had lost some 80 per activities that it had spent 12 years building up: Airbnb was reportedly valued at $26 billion in March but has since had to abandon plans to float.
He forecasts that holidays are going to shift long term, with people less enthusiastic about flying and more resigned to staycations rather than international breaks.
“People are saying they do want to get out of the house, regardless what country they're in but they aren't right now super comfortable getting on aeroplanes. They want to get in cars, and they want to travel not more than 300 miles away or 200 miles, a tank of gas” he tells Yahoo.
“A whole bunch of people who thought they had to get on an aeroplane and go to a city and stay in a central district realize, well, there are 400 national parks in the United States, and I live near one and maybe I should go see a natural park” he adds.
Many letting agencies which had diversified into Airbnb and other short lets management have now returned to concentrate solely on long-term bookings, while the fledgling trade group for short lets in the UK - the Short Term Accommodation Association - has given dire warnings about the financial health of the support industry that has grown up around Airbnb and similar services.
Globally Airbnb has already slashed its workforce by about 25 per cent and says it expects 2020 full-year revenue to be about half of last year’s.
%20-%20IMAGE%20Client%20Accounting%20%E2%80%93%20what%20are%20your%20options.jpg)
%20(002).png)
.png)
.png)
%20(002).jpg)
Join the conversation
Jump to latest comment and add your reply
My god Graham look at how many typos you have made in this article or are you on something that lets you write such gramatical drivel?
If you're going to criticise someone else's grammar, get your own in order first. Grammatical has two m's. There should be a comma after god and after Graham and your sentence overall requires more punctuation.
See, easy to criticise. For what it's worth, I can see no major typos in the piece. Maybe you're seeing something else?
Who cares if AirBnB goes down the pan!?
It is a business model based on fraud.
Very few
Lenders
Leaseholders
Freeholders
Council planners
Insurers
Etc
Would give permission for AirBnB lettings
The ABNB model has always been a disaster from the beginning, unregulated nonsense & no over watch or appropriate legality behind it.
I'm surprised the AirBnB exec hasn't been arrested for conspiracy to defraud.
It is a business model based on fraud.
Essentially it deliberately games the system to facilitate fraudulent lettings.
Does anyone know if AirBnB has issues any guidelines in terms of health and safety and the cleaning of the properties?
Please login to comment